updates and stuff.

So the paella turned out ok. My mom was too lazy to go get the chorizo so it was lacking a bit in flavor. also i was not as happy with the arborio as i was with the La Bomba rice from La Tienda.

lunch yesterday was fun and worth the calories, but dinner was a bit awkward.  we were a table for 6 at the melting pot we had two burners. the waiter put beer in one pot and wine in the other for cheddar and swiss cheeses. but when he put in the cheese he put the swiss with the beer and the cheddar with the wine. i told him nicely that he had made a mistake and he insisted he had not. it took several times to convince him to re-do it. after that my mom was upset because he was very slow. we were there for 3 and a half hours. And on top of that my cousin was sick and did not want to eat.

also between eating out, decorating my cube (pictures soon), and buying gifts for people, i have spent WAY too much  money in the last two weeks. so now i need to try my best to not buy anything for a few more weeks. wish me luck, i'm going to need it.

ACK!

I have been very good the last 3 weeks and finally lost the 3lb’s I had gained and today I’m going to ruin it all.


I promised a few co-workers I would take them to The Counter Burger for lunch.

It’s a build your own burger place and I have decided on the following

A beef burger 1/3lb (I know it’s higher in calories than their turkey, chicken, and veggie burger but I need the real thing) 450 calories

Horseradish cheddar – 80 calories (less than most of their other cheese options)

Red onions, pickles, mixed greens. All are 0 calories!

Ginger soy glaze – 45 calories (not bad at all, and I won’t use all of it)

And an English muffin for a bun. 190 calories. It’s fewer calories than the white and wheat buns and I will probably take off the top half anyway.

That’s 765 calories for lunch and does not include the fries.  :(

I had figured I would be bad at lunch and then go to the gym and eat a light dinner and all would be ok and then my mom asked if we could take my aunt and cousins to dinner at the melting pot for my cousin’s birthday. CRAP.

The average 2 person meal at the melting pot is 1400 calories.

So I plan to take the salad home for lunch tomorrow, and eat more veggies than meat.

But even with all me pre-planning I’m going to be way over my allotment for today.

Sad.

And I had a mini bagel for breakfast at about 200 calories when you add the cream cheese.

That’s going to put me right around 1600 calories for the day. Not horrendous, but not great.

Tomorrow it’s back to the gym with a vengeance.

Paella it's what's for dinner

On our way to Virginia Beach a few weeks back we stopped at La Tienda.

We bought wine, cheese, chorizo, paella rice, a clay paella pan and they gave us this recipe for paella.

At the beach we went to the fish monger and bought fresh clams, shrimp and some lobster we got the rest of the stuff at Farm Fresh.

It came out really well.

A few observations…

To keep cost down switch out the lobster with some kind of white fish that won’t flake too easily.

Instead of whole chickens just cube some boneless skinless thighs.

Of you can’t find La Bomba rice just use Italian Arborio

Use clams or mussels but both are a bit much.

Use more saffron

Don’t bother with both sizes of shrimp, one size makes life easier.

Tonight is our second attempt at paella, this time with some of these modifications. YUM!

Comments

I have had to turn on comment moderation because I have been getting odd spam comments with Japanese like characters and links.

I apologize. If the weird spam stops I will turn it off.

Let there be light!

Yesterday, after a year and a half of living with no real light source in our master bedroom, we took out the old ceiling fan and replaced it with this one.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I can now see my things at night and don’t have to stumble to the other side of the room to turn the bed side lamp on.

It really is the little things in life.

Now if only I was tall enough to reach the cords. Damn vaulted ceiling. I need Russ to install the extenders.

You Can't go wrongo with Wrongo Dongo.

Wrong Dongo is my new favorite cheap wine. last weekend we bought and drank three bottles of it and today we bought two more.

I found it for $7.99 at World Market. It's a Monastrell from Jumilla, Spain.

If you want to try something a little different from Spain try this Grenache from Calatayud Spain. The bottle is pretty and my dad said he liked it a bit better than the Wrongo Dongo. I found it for $9.00.

One Line a Day

EmpressKate and I bought 2 of these yesterday and i'm super excited.

every page has the day of the year at the top, like "January 1" and then underneath that it has 5 lines that all start with 20__ and you fill in the year. so when it's finished that page with have what you did on that date five years in a row.

 I was thinking how cool this would be to give to new mom's so they could record the first 5 years of their child's life and guess what? they have one for that too!

I did so much today i'm not sure how to fit it all in one line. i have always tried to journal and i never stick to it but this i think i can do.

wish me luck.